1.Everyone shall possess the right to freely express and publicise his thoughts in words, images or by any other means, as well as the right to inform others, inform himself and be informed without hindrance or discrimination
2.Exercise of the said rights shall not be hindered or limited by any type or form of censorship
Constitution of the Portuguese Republic, Article 37.º

Media Comments on McCanns v. Gonçalo Amaral trial outcome

Rua Segura is a TV program where criminal cases & current issues are debated on CMTV. In this episode the reconstruction made by CMTV [see CMTV 'Maddie Case Special'] about the night when Madeleine disappeared was shown, followed by a very short debate with Dr. Carlos Anjos, former PJ inspector and with Prof. Rui Pereira, the former Minister of Internal Affairs.

Anchor - This disappearance continues to be shrouded in mystery. Moving on to the next point, the Court of Appeals decision which revoked the sentence that obliged Gonçalo Amaral to pay half a million euro to the parents of Maddie McCann. Carlos, is this ruling a victory for Gonçalo Amaral? Is it also, in some way, a victory for the thesis defended by the former PJ inspector?

Carlos Anjos - No, I don't think so. I do think that it redresses some fairness, some justice. The arguments of the Court of Appeals in my view... I could not comprehend the decision of the 1st instance court. I have a better understanding of this decision, and I understand this decision because knowing the Maddie case as I know, I followed it at the time, and having read the book that Gonçalo wrote, there isn't much in that book that is not on the process. In other words, Gonçalo did an overview of the process, wrote the facts, he had worked on the process, and the only novelty that exists in the book and not on the process is that the process doesn't arrive to a conclusion about what happened to Maddie. It's not able to, that is, there is no proof to indicate that the McCanns were responsible for the death of their daughter. A process does not provide opinions, in a penal process or a criminal one we are limited to ascertain facts. Gonçalo has exactly that factual description of what was proven, the reconstitution of what happened, and then according to all of his knowledge of the process, and of all the information that was compiled throughout the process and with the declarations of the McCanns, he concludes in the book that what had happened was a determined situation: that the child had died earlier due to negligence or due to an accidental death and that the responsibility was of the McCanns, but that was already public knowledge. That was on the process and the process was public. That's why I don't understand the 1st instance court, because it's exactly what the Court of Appeals has now said, that there is nothing in Gonçalo's book that wasn't already public knowledge.

Anchor - Professor I ask you as well to make a brief comment, in this case can the Supreme court of justice have a decisive role taking into account that the McCann's lawyer will appeal.

Rui Pereira - No doubt. But very briefly, in here we usually comment on criminal processes, however this is not a criminal process.

Carlos Anjos - It's a civil process.

Rui Pereira - This is a civil process, in actual fact, the lawyers of the McCann family asked for compensation for damages on the basis of the harm of the rights to have a good name and image of the McCann couple. And why? Because it is easier to be indemnified in a civil process rather than in a criminal process alleging that a crime of slander and libel was committed. It's a tactic, a tactic known in procedural terms. Given the monetary value of the compensation asked, there is still the possibility to appeal to the Supreme Court, that will have the last word. What is at stake is to know, if in reality, was there any unlawful act that caused harm to the good name and image of the McCann couple.

in CMTV, Rua Segura S6 EP78, April 20, 2016

In the morning talk show Você na TV, broadcast by TVI, there is a criminal cases debate segment of which I'll post an extract. The full segment can be found at the link bellow. I found the comment by the lawyer and university professor Dr. António Pinto Pereira to be essential for a better perspective.

António Pinto Pereira - I actually think that it makes perfect sense the writing of this book in this particular case. Evidently a doctor can write a book, or a lawyer, or a judge, a police officer, in fact the decision of the court appeals...

Manuel Luís Goucha (host) - I just remembered, especially because the Judiciary police's work was called into question during the investigations.

José Paulino (PJ chief inspector) - Of course, but it's usually said that the police is like a punch bag, still it should continue to respond with restraint. And we can't react, the police can't react.

António Pinto Pereira - As I was saying, no one is forbidden of writing a book. We just can't report all the cases that we have in our professional lives and turn them into books. This is a case-study, this is the case of a lifetime and is the lifetime case of Gonçalo Amaral. Moreover, he was following with responsibilities the investigation of this crime and suddenly he was impeded, he was silenced inside the Judiciary Police itself. They told him to halt the investigation, they ordered him to stop. And at a certain point in time, they said "it's not like that". Even the organizations for which he was working said "no, it's not like that, that is an invention", and they pulled the carpet under his feet. He believed in what he was doing, has a superior knowledge to mine and to anyone else in this studio. He worked with an investigative team that had a deep knowledge of the case. And suddenly, within this context, they tell him to stop investigating. I believe that he was forced to leave from the Judiciary Police. I never understood the grounds for his departure but it's associated with this incident. Therefore, he feels outraged, it's his professional honour and integrity that are at stake and he narrates in the book that that he knows, that that he believes. What does the Court of Appeals decision say? And this Appeals' decision is remarkable. It says in essence, that the facts were exacerbated by the McCanns themselves, the parents spent their time giving interviews and talking about this case. The parents brought the case into light, not Gonçalo Amaral. In the end, he is commentating on the same facts that the parents comment, facts which are also reported by all the newspapers and media in this country. Besides, he believes and he possesses the knowledge concerning the subject he wrote, therefore it's a freedom of press exercise issue, it's a freedom of opinion issue, which is the characteristic of a democratic state of law. In fact, I never saw a court, not one first instance court nor a superior court, condemning a person to pay 500,000 euro for defaming another. Never saw that in my entire life. I would like that the deaths in Portugal had sentences like that, because the indemnifications when someone dies are "there you go 50,000 euro" which is a far inferior sum to a medium range car. That is how I would like to see the deaths compensated. I never saw half a million euro for defamation, just like it's abnormal to prohibit the publication of a book and the circulation of that book in the market, something that I find that jeopardizes the freedom of the press.

António Pinto Pereira - Yes, but it doesn't happen in the current democratic state of law, it doesn't happen in the 3rd Republic nor should it ever happen.

Manuel Luís Goucha (host) - Of course.

António Pinto Pereira - I believe this decision by the Lisbon court of Appeals to be truly remarkable and I have to congratulate the three Appellate judges that promulgated it. Now, there is going to be an appeal to the Supreme court, the process is not over yet and let's see what will be the Supreme insight over this.

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17 comments:

At last some good news. Welcoming and uplifting for sure for Dr Amaral. Still, there is a little way to go. Let us hope that the Supreme Court judge(s) have the same sense as the three very wise individuals of the Court of Appeal when it comes to reaching decision.

Retired British detective John Stalker, another very wise man, in the very early days of the Madeleine case had this to say:

“My gut instinct is that some BIG secret is probably being COVERED UP.

“I have watched the investigation into the Madeleine McCann case drag out for six months.

“One thing above all worries me:

Why have the McCanns and the seven other members of their group – the Tapas Nine – remained so silent?

“Unlike other high-profile cases I have worked on, not one of them has been prepared to break ranks or really come out and support each other.

“After all this time and pressure, I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT NOBODY WANTS TO SPEAK.

“I have a real suspicion that we are NOT BEING TOLD THE WHOLE TRUTH.

There is something else there, some issue that members of the party are embarrassed about”

------

Something they are embarrassed about is an understatement! But John Stalker knew back then, almost TEN YEARS ago that the McCanns and their buddies were NOT being TRUTHFUL.

He found it unbelievable that none of this group WANTED to speak!

Perhaps not (not only) a case of not wanting to speak but a case of NOT BEING ALLOWED to speak?

Do we really believe the McCanns, they who have tried to silence Dr Amaral, they who have pulled every dirty trick in the book to silence this man, to destroy him, his family, his life, would ALLOW those others who know what is the BIG SECRET to talk freely?

Stalker knows, like every other cop on the planet that the McCanns have been far from truthful in their account of what happened to their missing daughter.

Stalker, like every cop on the planet knows that Dr Amaral is right, that had they been in his position (may not have written a book) but would have reached the very same conclusion as to what became of Madeleine, based on the evidence of the investigation.

Imagine a poll of police officers, asked if they believe the McCanns and their buddies – the result would most surely sure to return a resounding NO!

McCanns not only fear the truth, fear Dr Amaral (if they did not, they would not have put the hounding and persecution of this man before their missing daughter and the welfare of their two remaining kids) they fear those they tell us are their friends, the tapas lot.

These people are not friends, they are people bound by crime, crimes committed against a little girl. People who together decided they would STAY SILENT. People who chose, every one of them, to not SPEAK UP FOR THE MISSING CHILD.

They are people who for the past TEN YEARS have lived in fear, not knowing when to expect a knock on their door. Not knowing which of them may break rank, as Stalker put it.

For these people to not have assisted police, to not have spoken up for a missing child, when their claim is she is alive and with paedophiles, one can only conclude that they know, that they knew at the time of their refusals, that the child was dead.

Their lives after that vacation in Portugal, not what any of them had planned for their futures. But they have a life, they can make choices - little Madeleine had no choice as to how she was to be treated by all of them. She had no say in her life, her future. Her little life cut short by their treatment of her.

The McCanns and their buddies, are people that no honest, decent person would wish to associate.

McCanns attempts at silencing others, destroying others, their lives, tells us all one needs to know - they live in constant fear of the truth being made known to the world.

Had they been completely innocent of any involvement in this child's disappearance, had they been completely honest in their accounts, they would have nothing to fear.

Dr Amaral's book, innocent, honest parents who had been truthful would have ignored, ignored in favour of concentrating on their children, the missing child, and the two remaining.

They have not!

They have unashamedly used their children, all three of them, in the most heinous ways, to gain public sympathy.

When things are not going well for them they come up with a sob story about the two remaining children.

The infamous 'school bus' story by Kate McCann at Court, a perfect example.

She told the Court of how Dr Amaral, his book had affected her young son. Of how hearing this on the school bus he began questioning her.

A story which the judge very wisely recognised as fabrication, and dismissed, did not believe!

And of course when the chips are down for them, they use Madeleine also.

They fall back on the 'search.' That is, the non- existent private search for their missing daughter.

The search which they claim Dr Amaral's book damaged.

Again, one of their tales which the judge THREW OUT, DISMISSED!

It is important that the public know and understand this. Understand that still to this very day, despite the Court throwing out the above claims, that the McCanns are still spouting the very same LIES.

Dr Amaral, retired detective John Stalker, and the millions of cops around the world know when witnesses are lying. Know when a story told by a group of buddies is full of holes and inconsistencies. Know when something is BEING COVERED UP. Know when a missing child is failed by those who should have cared most.

They know, in the case of Madeleine, that her parents, and each and every one of the adults in the group who was with her in Portugal have failed the child by their dishonesty.

That dishonesty is a crime against the child.

The hindrance to the investigation caused by that dishonesty a crime also.

What other crimes they may have committed against this little girl, time will tell.

The McCanns though, with every passing year, every time they appear in interview, outside a Court of Law, Kate McCann screeching like a banshee, behaving like trailer trash, shouting and attacking Dr Amaral, spouting untruths, they simply put another nail in their own coffins. And each time they lose control in this way, they further lose what little respect any member of the public who may still believe in their tale, may have for them.

Each time, they have the gall to stand outside a Court of Law and address the gathered press spouting untruths, the hole they have dug for themselves becomes ever deeper.

Their twin children will be going to 'big school' this year. Less than a year off, and they will be young teenagers. An age when parents in general are an embarrassment at best to their kids. An age when it is so very important for the youngsters to ‘fit in’

They cannot be forever protected in the way that their junior school did, in essence, in a way the school pandering to the McCanns.

Big school’ doesn’t have time for that. And more to the point, these youngsters will not welcome the unwanted attention.

Their parents crave the limelight, seize every opportunity to be seen and heard, believe themselves, it would seem, to be celebrity,a not what they actually are - parents failed to fully co-operate with police investigation the disappearance of their daughter, parents who have hounded a police officer who worked tirelessly to discover what became of their missing child.

But just how far will the McCanns go with their farce, with their ridiculous stories of what these two youngster say and do?

These kids absolutely must now be questioning, asking not only about Dr Amaral, but the untruths their parents have told about this man. The untruths told by them since the disappearance of the sister they never got to know.

Dr Amaral has for TEN YEARS fought (in the most heinous of circumstances, circumstances created by the McCanns against him) for the truth for Madeleine, for justice for Madeleine. He has been this little girl's voice. Not her parents!

He has fought for justice for himself, his family, the McCann malice.

For almost ten years, from the first hours of this little girl's disappearance the McCanns began their attack on the Portuguese Police, Portugal, its people, and more specifically Dr Amaral soon after.

All these years they have concentrated on themselves, protecting themselves. Never their remaining children, or Madeleine, the child they claim is alive, the child who they claim there is no evidence of her being harmed. If missing for ten years isn't harm having come to her?

They have concentrated on silencing the world, and silencing one man in particular - Dr Goncalo Amaral!

I do not know of any other person who could have or would have stood up to the McCanns, and the powerful people who finance and back them, and withstood the attack as Dr Amaral has.

Whether one likes this man or not, whether one agrees he should have written his book or not, all good people respect his professionalism, his honesty in this case, his integrity, the way in which he has conducted himself during these past long years, in what must have been the most horrendous TEN YEARS of his life, where he was almost destroyed by the hateful and vengeful actions of the McCanns, which took without question, a great toll on his health, and all aspects of his life.

I wonder what John Stalker thinks now – TEN YEARS ON - of the tapas 9 seeming not to have broken ranks.

I wonder what he now thinks of the McCanns, as by their actions these ten years, they have told us so much.

Perhaps he now thinks, that their untruths, whatever it is that he believes they have covered up, THEIR BIG SECRET, is BIGGER than he first thought all those years ago? BIGGER than he could ever have imagined.

I'm still a bit uneasy about the European Court, which does occasionally produce some 'unusual' verdicts. The McCanns are as tenacious as bulldogs and utterly narcissistic and self-righteioteous, so they will go for that if allowed to. What do you think about their chances there? Truly that would be the last gasp of their gross arrogance.

The images are not clear enough and aa they are scenic photograps it is difficult to see what they are. Please choose categories of objects like tools, animals, buildings etc which would do the same job but not cause arguments and puzzlement in proving you are not a robot. I have been foxed four times now!

anonymous@9 I'm not knowledgeable in laws to be able to give you an answer but I believe that if they have the money to keep paying for top lawyers, as obstinated and litigious as they are, I'm sure they will go to the ECHR. I'm not sure of what their chances will be, I suppose that would depend of their claims and if they are admissible to the EHCR, but seems that the trends of the ECHR judgements in matters of Freedom of expression (Art.10) versus Personality rights (Art.8) are against them.

Quoting an example of a case concerning someone in the public life, which has some similarities to the latest Court of Appeals decision: "In the Turhan case, examined in May 2005, the Court dealt with a writer’s conviction for defaming a minister of state in a book. The Court noted that the allegedly defamatory remarks in the book amounted to the author’s opinion following an interview with the minister, which had already been published in a magazine. They were value judgments and undoubtedly concerned an issue of public interest. In the light of this, the Court pointed out that the limits of acceptable criticism were wider regarding a politician than a private individual. The value judgments in question were based on information already known to the public, so there was no need to prove their basis in fact. There had been a violation of Article 10.301" in Freedom of expression in Europe, Case-law concerning Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights,Human rights files, No. 18, page 116 http://www.echr.coe.int/Documents/Pub_coe_HFfiles_2007_18_ENG.pdf

@14 Don't know if anyone has published one yet, it's more than a hour long debate, and the broadcast was just last night. I've already started the transcript, will post as soon as possible or as a WIP.

I wish him the best. He is such a brave man. It's astounding how the British media is demonising those who contributed to his legal fund and their smears against Amaral. I suppose that's what they call being Carter Rucked!!! The McCanns, from day one, have only been interested in being seen as innocent and moving the attention in a false direction to keep themselves from being properly investigated and prosecuted. While locals took time off work to search for their child they played tennis and went jogging, they never recognised what others had done and later they complained that people weren't doing enough!!! They apparently only 'maybe felt a little bit guilty for about three days' according to Kate, for leaving their children alone and unprotected in an unlocked apartment. She had four whole nights of restless sleep but was back to normal by night five. Gerry slept the night Madeleine went missing. It's possible that a child was kidnapped from these narcissistic sociopaths and they look guilty because they're not normal people and care not for their daughter but for protecting their social positions and therefore lied about a lot of things to protect that but it's far more likely that they know what happened, were responsible and they or their friends hid the body. They're hiding something. The British police have gotten more money for another holiday in the Algarve where they're under orders to find a few innocent people they can pin this crime on without evidence to see if it will stick. As they do every year. They're not allowed to suspect or investigate the McCanns or their friends which is why many Met officers contributed to Amarals legal fund. You won't read about that or why in the British media either!!!!